Village Life

[GK: sharakh b-meta. ] meta iva gu-mata. ki-darakhva gavo masta u-pummo ki-yasrakhvale bi kiset kenyana, k-avakhva zurzo shaperta, ki-karakhvala kramta. kramta ki-mattakhvala al-pummet meta, darakhva masta gavo u-yasrakhvala. ullul etvala kha-dana bezza kat-pokha paletva. masta darakh-vala, miyya darakhval gavo, sharakhva myaya. mayyakhvala. lablakhvala, mayyakh-vala. etva khuto sarga bi kesa atkha, eltikho kupa, ulluylo rama kat-meta azava eltekh, ullul. u-kha bakhta yan kha urza yatevva kat-mayyivala. mattiva khuto julla u-k-ave myayo e-meta. balket kha palget saat garshava halt o-karra ativa. e-get ki-patkhakhvala, khazzakhva bayya miyya, le-bayya miyya. balket hajat-et darakhva miyya gavo. ita kharta pummo patkhakhvale, sapkakhvala gu mane gure, kazancha.

[gk: Let’s start with the churn.] The churn was in the village. We put in it yoghurt and tied its mouth with the stomach of cattle. We had made it attractive. We used to call it a +k̭ramta (‘stopper’). We put the stopper on the mouth of the churn. We put yoghurt in it and tied it. At the top there was a hole so that air could come out. We put in yoghurt, we put water in it, and we began to churn. We brought it (forward). We pushed it away and we brought it forward to and fro. Under it there was a stand, made of wood, low at the bottom and high at the top, so the churn would go down and up. A woman or a man would sit in order to churn it. He would put a cloth under it and kept churning the churn. Perhaps it took half an hour until the butter was produced. When we opened it, we saw whether it needed water, or did not need water. Perhaps it was necessary to put water into it. So, then we opened its mouth and we emptied it into big vessels, a saucepan.

kazanchaze bitayela men-prezla kumta. ki-mattakhvala al-tanuyra, gavo mashkhennakhva miyya. e-kazancha ant meta sapkakhva gu-dayen. u-kulle o-karro shaklakhva men-pata. peshiva davve. davveda k-odakhvalun jaji. jaji darakhva gu-de … kazancha. darakhva gu-kazancha. darakhva khachcha melkha gavo. mattakhval al-da-tanuyra, kat-merri tanuyra sherakhvala kha-meter esri santiyye yurkhuva, amkuytuva, u-balket kha-meterda petvuva bush-raba. sherakhvale mattakhva al-davun. shalekva. darakhva gu-kesta. k-aviva jaji.

A saucepan (+k̭azanča) is made of metal (and is) black. We put it on the oven and we heated water in it. We emptied the contents of the churn into the saucepan. We took off all of its butter from the surface. The buttermilk remained. We made the buttermilk into jajəc. We put the jajəc into the saucepan. We put it in the saucepan. We put a little salt in it. We put it on the oven, as I said, the oven, and we lit it, its length, its depth was one metre twenty centimetres, and perhaps its width was also a metre, or more. We would light it and put it on this. It would boil. We put it in a bag and it became jajəc.

a jaji kat-miyyu k-aviva khishe, kharta k-odakh akh … gupta k-aviva. etvalan gellale kato. ki-darakhvalun eryane. etvalan busle, karra, k-odakhva gu-danne, gu-da jaji ka-tamta. karra, jaji, gupta, u gira men-pat-khalva shaklakhvale gira. morisha jalde m-kam khalva mashkhennakhvale men-patu shaklakhva gira. e-dan khalva mashkhennakhvale, ki-akeshva, patu k-oyava kurrushta. ki-karakhvala kurrushta. khalva khachcha pashva shakhina, la raba shakhina, darakhva kha-chamcha barkheshshakhvale kat-o khalva aviva masta gu-kadale. etvalan kadale, kadalet shira tanakhvale, akh-mukhzili ka-diyyukh e-kusarta, shira kat la gareshva miyya al-ganu. etva kadale. o-khalva darakhva gu-dani k-aviva masta. ita tamtet diyyan men-danniva.

This jajəc, when its water has evaporated, we make like … it becomes cheese. We had herbs for it. We put in basil. We had onions, butter, which we put in them, in the jajəc, for breakfast. Butter, jajəc, cheese, cream ( ɟira), we took the cream ( ɟira) from the top of the milk. Early in the morning, before we warmed the milk, we took the cream from the top if it. When we heated the milk and it cooled, the top of it became a skin, we called it k̭urrušta (skin). The milk would become slightly warm, not very warm. We put in a spoon and stirred it, so that the milk would become yoghurt, in pots. We had pots (k̭adalə), we called them enamel pots, like the saucepan I showed you, enamel, which did not absorb water. There were pots. We put the milk in these and it would become yoghurt. So our breakfast consisted of these.

etvala ktayate. ki-yadliva biyye. karuvva. karuvva. etvalan kha-karuvva ka-ktayate. lakhkha, ktayatet lakhkha vena maya biyye la b-karuvva. etvalan karuvva kate. ki-kariva, u-ki-taybervalun ktayate. etvalan raba biyye. an-biyye letvalan yakhchal gu-mata, ki-mattakhvalun gu-melkha. meta, etvalan meyateze up melkha ki-mattakhva gave. raba mendi mattakhva gu-dani, akh-kadale, akh khamra, ki-mattakhva gu-dani. ita anne biyye mattakhvalun gu-melkha, sab-kma peshiva gu-melkha le kharviva biyye. balket kha-shita k-amsetva khametvale gu-melkha, melkhet yama, etvalan yama keslan gu-Urmi. etvalan yama, melkha etvala, khvarta atkha gurta. atkha b-day khamakhvale.

We had chickens. They laid eggs. A rooster. A rooster. We had a rooster for the chickens. Here, the chickens here produce eggs without a rooster. We had a rooster for them. It used to crow and looked after the chickens. We had a lot of eggs. We did not have a refrigerator in the village, we put them in salt. Churning pot, we had churning pots, we put salt also in those. We put many things in them, like pots, such as wine, which we put in them. So, we put the eggs in salt, because so long as they remain in salt the eggs would not go off. You could perhaps keep it in salt for one year, in sea salt, we had a sea by us in Urmi. We had a sea, it had salt, white, big like this. So we kept it in that.

u-busraze, e-dan ativa nashe, busra paremva gu-mata. letvalan dukkanane. busra kat-paremva, shaklakhva raba, u-kalakhvale busra. kalakhvale, mardekhkhakhva, bashelva, darakhva meshkha allu, melkha allu, darakhva gu-kadale. iman bayyakhva kha-mendi bashlakhva, men-do kalya, shemmu kalyeva, ki-akrakhva, paltakhva, mat-takhva gu-kusarta u-bashlakhva. bashlakhva yakhni, ki-karila yakhni, shurva. yakhni marona, men-busra, kertope, khartmane, darakhva gavo, u-bademjane. anne kulle k-ativa men zrutet ganan, men-mata, akhchi busra k-ativa vaddar.

As for meat, when people came, meat would be slaughtered. We did not have shops. When meat was slaughtered, we took a lot and we fried the meat. We fried it, we boiled it and it cooked, we put clarified butter on it, salt on it, and put it in pots. When we wanted to cook anything, we dug out some of the cooked meat fat, its name was k̭alya, we took it out, we put it in a saucepan and we cooked. We cooked stew, they call it yaxni (stew), soup. They call it yaxni, which is made of meat, potatoes, chickpeas, which we used to put in it, aubergines. All these came from our own crops, from the village, only meat came from outside.

kha-kha-ga men-kha-kenyanan parmakhva, kha-kha-ga ktayay parmakhvalun. ita busra kha-kusarta b-kalya. yane kalyada k-ativa atkha. kulle mendi khamakh-vale. ina setva kul-mendi mattakhva vaddar gu-talga. ana babi khzuyre ki-paremvalun, tandelvalun vaddar. tandelvalun, u-k-azelva kut-kedamta, menne paremva mayyiva smala, khvisa zarezva, khvisa, b-lakhma.

From time to time we slaughtered one of our cattle, from time to time we slaughtered our chickens. So meat (was cooked in) a saucepan with meat fat. The meat fat was produced thus. We preserved everything. In winter we put everything outside in the snow. My father used to slaughter pigs and hang them outside. He used to hang them and go every morning and cut from them and bring back pig fat, he made +xvisa (bread fried in fat), +xvisa, with bread.

ita etvalan kulina ki-tanakhvale. kulina etva atkha b-da jurra yarikha, ina ulluliva, rameva tre metre. kha gibu kha kutiyyu kulina iva ka-kamkha. men-eltekh garshetvala kamkha k-ativa paletva. ina men-ullul daretva gavo. kha ayna iva ka-khette. dalapcha marona. dalapcha ile a tarra kat-ptakhut lakhma mattakhva.

Then we had what we call a +k̭ulina (storage box). A +k̭ulina (storage box) was this type, long, but it (extended) upwards, it was two metres high. One of its sides, one of its compartments, of the storage box, was for flour. You would pull it from below and flour would come out, but you would put it in from the top. One side was for wheat. (There is a) pantry (+dalapča), as they call it. A pantry is the door that you open where we used to put bread.

lakhma ganan yapakhvale lavashe raba shapire. etvalan lesha ganan leshakhvale. miyyeva, kamkha, u-balket khachcha b-khalva k-odakhva tanakh-vale patire. ina la b-khalva ki-karakhvale lakhma, lavasha. darakhvale miyya u kamkha, melkha, bulchu. bulchu ila Eyeast, ina bulchu akhnan ganan ki-khammakhvala men-da kamkha, men-da lesha ka-do lesha khina.

We used to bake our own bread, very fine flat breads (+lavašə). We had dough, we used to knead ourselves. They were made with water, flour, and perhaps we made some with milk, which we would call +paṱirə. But (when made) without milk we called it bread, flat bread (+lavaša). We put in it water, flour, salt, +bulč̭u (leavening dough). +bulč̭u is (like) yeast, but we fermented it ourselves, from the flour, from one dough to another dough.

u kha kunda, kha-kunda lesha, ki-tamrakha gu-kamkha ka-hal da-sapar khita av tama k-aviva pespessa, metya. ita iman bayyakh kamkha odakhva, medre lesha odakhva, avun kamkha ki-makhakhvale al-marza. ina raba gura tiyan etvalan tiyan. khumsa k-aviva gu-miyya k-odakhvale lesha. khotakhvale k-odakhva lesha. lesha balket tre saatte k-aviva hal-mativa, yasekva ullul lesha, kam mativa. men-bar-hada darakh kunde. tanuyrada sherakhvale.

We buried a ball of dough, a ball of dough in flour and until the next time it would be there hissing and ready. So when we wanted to use flour, again to make dough, we put the flour on the side. But we had a very big vat, a vat. The leaven was in water, we made it into dough, we mixed it, we made it into dough. It took perhaps two hours before the dough matured, before the dough rose, before it matured. After that we lay out balls of dough. We would light the oven.

tanuyret diyyan mujjur sharva? etvalan karma u-gepta, anve. kulle makrettivalun, jam-makhvalun, yasrakhvalun darze, mayyakhva mattakhlun gu-ambar ka-setva. u-kenyane imant, makhleta, shekhta odiva e-shekhta estable kulle tammezzakh-vale, mattakhvale gu-kertala. al-khasan lablakhvala rappakhvala al-vaddar. u-dashdeshshakhvale, k-aviva atkha kvita, akh-arra.

How was our oven kindled? We had a vineyard, a vine, grapes. They would cut them all down, we would gather them, tie them into bundles, and bring them back to the storeroom for winter. The cattle— excuse me—when they made their filth, we would clean away the filth in the stables and put it in a basket. We took it on our back and threw it down outside. We stamped it down, it was hard as the ground.

kharta urze parmivale b-mira. parmivale urze raba gura, m-akhkha hal-tamma, atkha gura. atkha gura, kamre. ka-danne ki-tanakh kamre. anne urze ki-parmivala a-sulta, shemmo sulteva. akrivala atkha, parmivala atkha k-odivala kat shemsha orava khute, barziva. iman brezvalun, ki-morakhvalun gavay ka-setva, ka tanuyra. u etva shekhtet kenyane, medre makhleta, paltakhvala dukta khita, darakhva miyya gavo. k-odakhva akh tina. mamtiyyakhvala b-akle tina, u-ki-yapakhvala b-idan. atkha yarikhe, shemmet danida kamre patukhe. ayyada patukheva gure, ina anne khachcha bush-nazukiva.

Then men would cut it with a spade. Men would cut it very big, from here to there, as big as that. Dung cakes (camrə) as big as that. We call these camrə (dung cakes). These—men would cut the dung heap (sulta), its name is sulta. They dug it like this, cut it and made it like this, so that the sun would enter under them, so that they would dry. When they had dried, we brought them inside for the winter, for the oven. Excuse me again—we took out the filth of cattle to another place and put water in it. We made something like mud, we processed it with our legs into mud and kneaded it with our hands, long like this. The name of these is dung cakes, +p̂aṱuxə. These were large dung cakes, but the others were a little thinner.

ka-akhuni tanyana ki-gabakhva kese, talashyate. talashyate ina ilana , beshkalevet kalpu. talashyate tanakhvale. anne darakh-vale b-danne kamre, b-danne bi gepta kese b-da patukhta, patukhe u tapakh-vale o-tanuyra. tanuyra etvale anta yarekhta. anta m-khut arra b-tanuyra mattuyena. kha-anta mattuyena. kha-kesa khlima mattuyena, bnayuna. kharta bar-brazele, kesa palutuna. lakhkha tanuyrele, lakhkha antela, et-doketla nuyra pash shapira. ina taza beshyarut, ayya gari shakhlepla kat hava aver gavet tanuyra, nuyra kat layye. ka-dayen ki-tani anta, antet tanuyra. etvalan julla zurzekhva kat-deshakhva al-do-bezza. kat la jammiva tanuyra. ina e-dan taza tapakhvale, gari shaklakhvala. etvalan tandurta, tanuyra sura ka-kut-yum, masalan bashlakhva gavo.

I say to my brother, we used to gather wood, bark strips (+ṱalašyatə). Bark strips are (from) a tree, you take its bark, we called them +ṱalašyatə. We put these in the dung cakes, and with the wood of the vine, with the long dung cake (+p̂aṱuxta), long dung cakes, we lit the oven. The oven had a long airhole. They put the airhole in the oven under the ground. They make an airhole. They place a thick piece of wood and they build (the oven). Then, after it (the structure of the oven) dries, they take out the wood. Here is the oven and here is the airhole, which you close for the fire to remain good. But when you are newly kindling it, you have to adjust it, so the air enters the oven and so the fire burns. They call this an airhole, the airhole of the oven. We had a cloth which we had prepared for us to stuff into the hole so that the oven did not take in (air). But when we were newly kindling it, we had to take it away. We had a tandurta, a small oven, for us to cook in every day.

u-etvalan beta tanakhva otagh arkhe, betet setva. aha betet setva tanuyra ave gavu. ina otaghet arkhe etvalan bukhari. bukhari, kese mattakhva gavo. u-patukhe mattakhva gavo, kamre mattakhva gavo. allo ki-bashlakhva. etvalan plita. a plita lishanet urusnayela. PmutmayenPivan, chunket babi day muyyeva. plita mattiva, b-dayda bashliva.

We had a house, we said ‘room (for) guests,’ winter house. The winter house had the oven in it. In the guest room we had a stove. We put wood in the stove. We put long dung cakes in it. We put small dung cakes in it. We cooked on it.Wehadahotplate.This(word)hotplate(p̂liṱa)isRussian,Iamsure,because my father’s family brought them. They laid a hot plate and cooked on that.

ka-akhuni tayan, etvalan kardiyye. kardiyye yane zrutet gellale, eryane, bademjane, buybare, Pespenaj, raba mendiyyane, selka, kalama. anne kulle zarakhvalun gu-de dartet ganan. gari ka-setva, gari bashlakhva biyye. raba mendiyyane, gellale. gellalan iva karavuz, jafari marokh, jafari lishanet farset ila. tole, kabar. anne kulle k-avivalan. katkettakhvale k-odakhva dolma. rezza mattakhva gavu, busra, k-odakhvalun dolma. dolma k-odakhva b-de kalama, b-mendiyyane khine. yane khayyuta atkha raba shaperteva.

I say to my brother, we had vegetable garden plots (cardiyyə). Plots, that is for the cultivation of herbs, basil, aubergines, peppers, spinach, many things, beetroot, cabbage. We cultivated all of these in our own vegetable garden. They were needed for winter, when we needed to cook with them. Many things, herbs. Our herbs were parsley, we call it jafari, (the word) jafari is Persian, coriander, leek. We had all of these. We used to make dolma. We chopped it finely, we put rice in it, meat and we made dolma. We made dolma with cabbage and other things. So life was very good.

anne eryane, buybare, bademjane dokakhvalun turshiyye. anne line malakhvalun turshiyye. u anve kat-etvalan karma, anve mayyakhva marchakhvalun. men-dan miyye odakhva nipukhta. nipukhta bashlakhva, raba shaperta. atkha rangu khvareva, akh-karra. darakhvala upra, etvalan kha-upra, men-Gavilan mayyivale. upra men-arra ki-akrakhvale, darakhvale gu-danne miyyet anve kat-kedamta kemetva, daretva upra.

We preserved as pickles the basil, peppers, aubergines. We filled jars with pickles. As for the grapes that we had in the vineyard, we brought back the grapes and crushed them. From their juice we made grape molasses. We cooked grape molasses, very well. Its colour was white like butter. We added soil, we had a (special type) of soil, which they brought from Gawilan. We would dig the soil from the ground and put it in the grape juice, for that you would get up in the morning and add the soil.

u-nashe yaskiva gu-charaz. shemmo charaziza. atkha tursova. etvala bezza. atkha odiva anve miyya saliva men-de-charaz gu-tiyan. a shakletvale b-vadre daretvale gu-de meta, gu-do-upra. ita barkheshshetvale. anne miyyet anve men-do upra ki-khotiva p-uydale. u-gubbuk paltava al-vaddar. kedamta kemetva, garek morisha jalde shakletvala. kulle o-tina, e-shekhta k-oya pletta al-pata. bas an-miyyet anve khazzetvale miyyet shteta, sepye. gari sapetvale. o-tina ki-darakhvale gu-kha-jvala. medre miyyu saliva. avda bashlakhvale, ina miyyu saliva avun noshu. ina an-miyyet anve raba sepye shapire k-odakhvle nipukhta. men-dan miyyet anve k-odakhva khamra. men-dan miyyet anve odakhva khala, khala, darakhva al-dan turshiyye. turshiyye raba basime k-aviva.

People would climb up the grape-press. Its name was čaraz. They made it like this. It had a hole. When they did like this, the grape juice flowed down from the grape-press into a cauldron. You would take this in buckets and put it in the pot, with the soil. Then you stirred it and they mixed the grape juice together with the soil. Scum would come out (of the juice). In the morning you would get up, you had to take it off early in the morning. All the mud and dirt had come out onto the surface. You would see, however, that the grape juice was juice fit for drinking, pure. You had to strain it. We would put the mud in a sack. Its juice would flow down again. We cooked this, but its juice flowed by itself. That grape juice was very pure and fine. We used to make grape molasses (like that). From that grape juice we used to make wine. From that grape juice we used to make vinegar, vinegar, which we put on the pickles. The pickles were very tasty.

ka-akhuni tayana sabun merri a-sapar katukh sabun ganan k-odakhvale. darakhva soda b-garme. e-dan soda rappuyet al-garme al-mendi kulle mapshurel vadul akh-miyya. mattetle al-tanuyra bashletle, daretle al-pat-miyya, palet akh-tarba. tarba, meshkha daretva al-pat-miyya pash. ita parmakh-vale atkha gure salle tanakhvale salle ka-sabun. mattakhva al-ullul kulle barezva. bas shaklakhva men-do salle. balket ka-esra shenne akhnan k-avivalan sabun. ki-masakhva julle biyyu.

I say to my brother, soap, I have said to you now, we used to make our own soap. We would put soda on bones. When you put soda on bones, on something, it melts it all and makes it like water. You put it on the oven and cook it. You put it on the surface of water and it comes out like fat, fat, oil, which you put on the surface of water and it stays. Then we would cut it into big blocks, as we called them, blocks of soap. We laid it up so that it would all dry. But we would take blocks from it. We had soap for perhaps ten years. We used to wash clothes with it.

u-miyya mayyakhva men-shakita. letvalan miyya Plulekashi letvalan. gariazakhmen-shakitamayyakhvale. balketkha khamshamma metre rekkeva shakita. k-atyava men-jam-mavate, men-matet diyyan, k-atyava men Khanishan atkha men Karajalu, Babajan, k-orava men-matet diyyan, atkha k-azava eltekh Spurghan, Khanishan, Yanjija, kulle e shakiteva. shakita beddayet muila-khina? nara, ina a kha-ketta men-narele. bitayele ka-matvate kat-nashe mashtila zrute biyye.

We brought water from a stream. We did not have water from pipes. We had to go and bring it from the stream. The stream was perhaps five hundred metres away. It came from a group of villages, from our villages, it came from Xanišan, also from K̭arajalu, +Babajan, it entered our village, then it went down to +Spurġān, Xanišan, Yanjija. It was all the same stream. You know what a stream is? A river, but this is a part (flowing) from a river. It comes to villages so that people can irrigate their crops with it.

masalan at bayyetva khaklukh mashtetvala, u-karmukh mashtetvale, u-bestana, zarrakhva bestana, mashtetvalun men-de shakita. at shakletva, atkha labletva, ana shaklanva atkha mayyanva. nashe khine kulle shakliva mashtiva men-de shakita. shakitet Spurghan ki-karivala, sabab a shakita k-azava al-Spurghan. ita etva nuyne gavo.

For example, if you wanted to irrigate your field, or irrigate your vineyard, or your kitchen garden—we used to cultivate a kitchen garden—you would irrigate them from that stream. You would take (water), take it (for your land), I would take it and bring it (to my land). Other people would all take from this stream and irrigate (their land). It is called the stream of +Spurġān, because this stream goes to +Spurġān. There were fish in it.

khina etvalan bestana zarrakhva. a-sapar katukh merri, bestana zarrakhva. sheptiyye gavuva, raba shapire sheptiyye glule. u-kha ber-zarra etvalan, ber-zarret shaddu. ber-zarra atkha khvareva kuma ki-karivale shaddu. gluleva. etvalan yarikhe iva et-karivalun khone. khone, kha-tar anne sheptiyye yarikhe, karakh-valun khone. etvalan bashile, atkha bashile, kamta kendureva, surta. ki-mattakhvala khut-arra gu-upra, upra darakhval allo. gashketva vena plite kulle, plite viyyena bashile. ka-danne tani bashile. atkha kendura mattetla khut-upra, palta men-khut-upra. gabetvala t-oya bashila. u-shallake, range kina, akh-da yarekhta, raba khlita shallak ki-tanivala. u-khyare, kendure, anneda men-bestane men-bestane k-ativa.

We used to cultivate a kitchen garden, as I have just said, we cultivated a kitchen garden. There were watermelons in it, very fine round watermelons. We had a seed, the +šaddu seed. It was a white and black seed, which was called +šaddu. It was round. We had long ones, which were what were called xonə. One type of long watermelon we called xonə. We had musk melons (bašilə), first these were a small green musk melon (cəndura). We used to put them under the ground in the soil, we put soil over it. You would see that (when) they all came out they have become musk melons (bašilə). They call these bašilə. You put the green musk melon (cəndura) under the soil and it comes out from under the soil. You pick it and it is a musk melon (bašila). Also large musk melons (šallak̭ə), green in colour, long like this, very sweet, called šallak̭. Cucumbers, green musk melons, these came from the kitchen gardens.